He looks rugged and masculine. I'm not fond of a horizontal composition on a one-person portrait in front of a smooth, seamless type background. I realize he might have a slightly larger than average nose, but the short focal length (50mm) and close shooting distance are making the nose look a slight bit larger than it probably looks in real life. His shirt collar also looks a bit askew in the back, and the large shadow the collar forms is drawing a lot of undue attention.

I know you're in the UK somewhere, and not in Austalia, but this fellow, well to me he looks like a guy who, here in the USA might be currently seen in a Foster's Lager or Foster's Ale TV commercial saying, in a very, very heavy and exaggerated Aussie accent, "Foster's! Australian for beee-uh!" and then slamming a foaming, empty beer mug down on the bar top.

He looks rugged and masculine. I'm not fond of a horizontal composition on a one-person portrait in front of a smooth, seamless type background. I realize he might have a slightly larger than average nose, but the short focal length (50mm) and close shooting distance are making the nose look a slight bit larger than it probably looks in real life. His shirt collar also looks a bit askew in the back, and the large shadow the collar forms is drawing a lot of undue attention.

I know you're in the UK somewhere, and not in Austalia, but this fellow, well to me he looks like a guy who, here in the USA might be currently seen in a Foster's Lager or Foster's Ale TV commercial saying, in a very, very heavy and exaggerated Aussie accent, "Foster's! Australian for beee-uh!" and then slamming a foaming, empty beer mug down on the bar top.

IF you're doing 1 person horizontal, you have get tight and fill the frame, otherwise the background is very distracting and annoying.
Shooting with wide open lens IF done in correctly is dangerous. As you're learning, from what it seems now, start shooting portraits around f/6.3-8. Once you get a handle on composition and lighting, you can open lens wider to get effect you want.